This invention relates generally to systems and methods for performing an electronic transaction and, more particularly, to network-based systems and methods for processing and tracking electronic transactions relating to a vehicle wherein the transaction is initiated by a cardholder having a transaction account.
Electronic transaction cards are widely used in the United States and elsewhere as a means to attract financial accounts to financial institutions and, in the case of credit cards, as a medium to create small loans and generate interest income for financial institutions.
Many electronic transactions are associated with vehicle costs. Some vehicle models include electronic capabilities such as accessing the Internet and accessing satellite navigation systems. Moreover, some vehicle models include electronic hardware such as DVD players and monitors that display and/or interact with these electronic capabilities. These electronic capabilities require periodic payments, such as monthly payments, to be paid by the user. Multiple payments for vehicle applications, in addition to other payments such as mortgage and cell phone payments, can lead to inefficient cost accounting, tracking of expenses, missed bill payments and/or increased time consumption for the user to organize vehicle costs.
Regular vehicle tasks such as pumping fuel and changing the oil require costs that are difficult to record and track for consumption monitoring purposes. Moreover, tasks, such as fuel pumping, require the user to exit the car, engage a transaction card with the fuel pump, input information such as a zip code and choose a fuel. The user then engages the fuel hose with the vehicle and chooses an amount of fuel and pumps the fuel. The user then waits to pay for the transaction or walks into the merchant's store to pay for the transaction. Sometimes, these time-consuming activities are conducted in inclement weather such as rain, snow or heat.
In addition to providing certain information to satisfy the security measures implemented by merchants, issuing banks or other parties involved in the electronic purchasing process, such as vehicle cardholders must also manually provide other information to the merchant to complete the transaction. This information can include, for example, billing and/or shipping addresses, or the name, birth date, phone number, email address or other information concerning the cardholder. This information is typically received when the cardholder manually enters the information into a computer system/input device. The process of manually entering this information can be time-consuming and tedious for the cardholder. Furthermore, the user-entered information may contain errors (e.g., typographical errors) since it is manually provided by the user.
Accordingly, a system and method is needed that utilizes known protocols for communicating information between vehicle computer devices, merchant computer devices, payment computer devices, and other third party devices in order to enhance and further automate processing and tracking vehicle transactions and payments.